Lottery Winner Wants To Keep Working Sixteen Months After Winning $8.9 Million, Ted Yackera,single, 36, And Living In Mahoning Township, Is Searching For Purpose In His Life.

February 04, 1996|by MARY ELLEN ALU, The Morning Call

When Ted Yackera finally got around to checking his lottery tickets that night in 1994, he knew, by reading the newspapers, that someone had the winning ticket for the multimillion-dollar prize in Wild Card Lotto.

Yackera had a match on the first number, then the second, then the next three. He had won at least $1,500. He figured he'd be having a good Christmas. But he couldn't yet bring himself to check the sixth number -- the one that could cinch the big win.

Yackera, a business manager for a school district near Hershey, walked around his apartment. In the bathroom, he looked at himself in the mirror, and thought, "If that's number 47, my life is about to change."

He was right.

Sixteen months after winning $8.9 million in the Pennsylvania lottery, Yackera -- single, 36, and living in Mahoning Township -- is searching for purpose in his life.

After winning the money, he offered to be superintendent of the Panther Valley school district for $1 a year plus expenses, but the job went to someone else. He made similar offers to other school districts, but to no avail.

He ran for Carbon County commissioner, but having moved back to the county 18 days too late, he had to withdraw when he didn't meet the residency requirements.

Now Yackera, who has two master's degrees and who has been working toward his doctorate, is challenging state Rep. Keith McCall for the Democratic nod for state representative in the 122nd District, which includes Carbon County and part of Luzerne County. He said he'd donate his salary to local charities.

"I know I want to help my community," said Yackera, who quit his job as business manager of the Elizabethtown Area School District shortly after winning.

"If I was a plumber, I'd volunteer to do plumbing work," he said. And if a doctor, he'd give free medical care. But, he said, "I'm a business and financial manager."

Yackera is not giving himself much of a chance in the state representative race, given McCall's popularity and political clout. He said he only plans to spend about $8,000 of his own money in the campaign, far less than what political observers said he would have to spend to win.

But he hopes to lay the groundwork for a political future, while giving voters a choice in the Democratic primary.

It's all part of Yackera's evolution since winning the lottery. Although happy to have won and grateful for the freedom and independence it has afforded him, he said he went through what he called a "post-lottery depression."

"I felt I lost my identity," said Yackera, who grew up in Girardville, Schuylkill County, where his father and younger brother own a gas station. "I worked my whole life to gain self-esteem. For a while, I lost it."

He didn't apply himself much in high school. But after graduating, he joined the Air Force, where he was a financial management specialist. He received a bachelor's degree in business administration from Husson College in Maine, then received a master's in business administration from Bucknell University and a master's in education from Widener University.

He became business manager of the Panther Valley School District. He was outspoken and controversial as he tried to strengthen the district's financial base. He took a similar but higher-paying job at the Elizabethtown Area School District, near Hershey. He left that $52,000-a-year position within months of winning the lottery.

"I was having problems getting motivated," confessed Yackera, who overnight went from being middle-class to rich.

He began questioning the point of working or going to school, since he didn't need the money. He put his doctoral studies on hold. "Life is short, why should I work?" he asked himself. Other people asked him the same thing.

He said he began to be known more for winning the lottery than for his academic and business achievements. He perceived that people were treating him differently. In some ways, he said, the money seemed to give him more clout in business circles.

When he walked into a neighborhood newsstand, the employees would say, "Hey everybody, there's the lottery winner." He eventually asked them to stop, and they obliged. "Can't we go back to the way it was?" he had asked them.

"The limelight was for the wrong reasons," Yackera said.

It took his involvement in the Lansford Little League last year to help him refocus.

"Kids have brought me back to life two times in my life," said Yackera, referring to his earlier involvement with the Little League during some difficult times as Panther Valley business manager. "The kids don't care about money. They want your time. They're just glad you're there."

In his newly-purchased ranch house in Mahoning Township, Yackera, a big fan of Disney movies and Disney memorabilia, hung up wooden plaques with images of Dumbo, Casper and Tweety Bird. The plaques carry some of his favorite sayings: Do your best. Don't forget who you are. Stay in school. Smile. It's OK to be different.